JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SUES TO STOP MISSOURI WOMAN’S PREPARATION OF FRAUDULENT TAX RETURNS

Oronogo Woman Allegedly Prepared Returns for Customers in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department today filed suit against Carrie Ann Shafer, of Oronogo, Missouri, to stop her from preparing federal tax returns. Shafer, who operates a tax return preparation business -“TC’s Taxes and More”- from her home, allegedly prepares for customers fraudulent federal income tax returns claiming fictitious or inflated deductions for such items as medical and dental expenses, business expenses, and charitable contributions.

The government’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri in Springfield, contends that Shafer fabricates the amounts of customers’ deductions, thus understating her customers’ tax liabilities and claiming unlawful tax refunds for them. Shafer allegedly has prepared over 1,000 federal tax returns for the 2003 tax year, and is currently preparing federal tax returns for the 2004 tax year. Her customers have been located in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

“People who prepare false or fraudulent returns unfairly shift the tax burden to law-abiding taxpayers,” said Eileen J. O’Connor, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “The Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service are working vigorously to stop these systematic abuses of the tax system.”

The lawsuit also asks the court to prohibit Shafer from representing customers before the IRS and to order Shafer to give the Justice Department a list of her customers’ names, addresses, e-mail addresses, and Social Security numbers.

Information about the Tax Division’s recent efforts to combat tax fraud in other injunction cases is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/taxpress2005.htm. Information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/.